Jags President Talks In-Stadium Upgrades, Says No Games Will Be Blacked Out

Lamping argues the Jaguars have gotten an unfair rap in regards to blackouts

Jaguars President Mark Lamping discussed the enhancements done to EverBank Field in advance of the team's home opener against the Texans and said the “thing that will probably resonate most with our fans is the Jaguars will take a different path now when they leave the locker room for pregame introductions." Appearing on WOKV-AM Wednesday, Lamping said, "They’ll actually go through a gauntlet of fans.” He noted the team has “only scratched the surface” in ways to enhance the in-stadium fan experience. Changes this season include allowing fans to bring their own food inside EverBank Field and not requiring tickets for small children. Lamping: "We've done a lot of work as it relates to ticket pricing.” Lamping also touched on the NFL's new blackout policy, in which teams only need to sell 85% of non-premium tickets for games to air locally. He said, “We have a stadium that’s built much bigger than it needs to be for the NFL. It’s just the size it needs to be to host Florida-Georgia each year. ... We would love to get to the point where we’re attracting over 70,000 people a game, but that’s a tough assignment for this marketplace. It's a very tough assignment for most markets, even cities much larger than Jacksonville.” He said the Jaguars and the city of Jacksonville have "gotten such an unfair rap over the years," there has not been a game blacked out in two years and there "won’t be games blacked out this year." Lamping: "When you start your conversation about how many tickets do you have to sell to avoid the blackout, that’s such a negative place to start. So we’ve moved away from that and the fans have responded extremely well” (WOKV-AM, 9/12).

TOSS UP: The Jaguars have launched a Coin Toss Ticket promo that offers fans the ability to purchase up to four tickets -- possibly single seats or in odd assortments -- for $20 each. Fans can go to the Jaguars' ticket office between 9:00am-2:00pm ET on the Saturday before a Jaguars home game and purchase a certificate for up to four tickets to the following day’s game. On game day, the certificates must be exchanged for game tickets beginning one hour before kickoff at the Coin Toss Ticket entrance. Once the tickets are picked up, the purchaser and the entire party must immediately enter the stadium. The name of the promo lends itself to the fact that there are no guarantees of location or whether tickets will be singles, paired or nearby each other (Jaguars).